Official 2022 Draft Thread 3 (June 23)

[WuTang_CMB]

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blake and hardy added

[gojoorange]

22! Hopefully no one is left sitting in the green room when the draft finishes.

[aminiaturebuddha]

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blake and hardy added

Who's the last one sitting in the green room out of that group? I'll go with either Washington or Beauchamp.

[WuTang_CMB]

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[grant101]

Siakam
Scottie
FVV
OG
Trent
Precious

6 guys who are all getting major minutes next season.

Flynn or Delano, 33rd pick, Boucher (we think), Thad (we think) will round out the rest

We know the talent of this draft evens out between 15-35 so we are basically drafting a 1st round pick... this was the intent behind the Thad trade.

With the glut of wings in this draft, it just makes too much sense to get another one and add it.

If any of Laravia / Moore / K Brown / J Lewis are picked, I do see them playing minutes next season along with g league.

If they are punting for long-term wings - I think Peyton and Minott are their guys.

I agree that the rotation minutes crunch at the 2-4 positions is an important factor to consider if we're going to double down on big wings strategy.

Curious why you think K Brown and J Lewis don't fit as upside plays. To my mind they're both about the same age as Peyton and Minott, and both have a lot of untapped potential that might benefit from a development year as well

[OakleyDokely]

Looking forward to a projected lottery pick or two sliding out of the 1st round and right into the Raptors lap, only for them to draft an obscure name whom one person posted about here 3 months ago and who proceeds to impress everyone 5 minutes into summer league.

Almost a yearly tradition. You just missed the part when the board freaks out after this pick, followed by 'Masai is a genius' 5 minutes into that summer league.

[Morris_Shatford]

Is Kofi Cockburn still in the 2022 draft?
I just came across a mock that had him in 2023.

[gojoorange]

Looking forward to a projected lottery pick or two sliding out of the 1st round and right into the Raptors lap, only for them to draft an obscure name whom one person posted about here 3 months ago and who proceeds to impress everyone 5 minutes into summer league.

Almost a yearly tradition. You just missed the part when the board freaks out after this pick, followed by 'Masai is a genius' 5 minutes into that summer league.

Never fails.

[gojoorange]

Siakam
Scottie
FVV
OG
Trent
Precious

6 guys who are all getting major minutes next season.

Flynn or Delano, 33rd pick, Boucher (we think), Thad (we think) will round out the rest

We know the talent of this draft evens out between 15-35 so we are basically drafting a 1st round pick... this was the intent behind the Thad trade.

With the glut of wings in this draft, it just makes too much sense to get another one and add it.

If any of Laravia / Moore / K Brown / J Lewis are picked, I do see them playing minutes next season along with g league.

If they are punting for long-term wings - I think Peyton and Minott are their guys.

Jabari Walker erasure.

[WuTang_CMB]

Siakam
Scottie
FVV
OG
Trent
Precious

6 guys who are all getting major minutes next season.

Flynn or Delano, 33rd pick, Boucher (we think), Thad (we think) will round out the rest

We know the talent of this draft evens out between 15-35 so we are basically drafting a 1st round pick... this was the intent behind the Thad trade.

With the glut of wings in this draft, it just makes too much sense to get another one and add it.

If any of Laravia / Moore / K Brown / J Lewis are picked, I do see them playing minutes next season along with g league.

If they are punting for long-term wings - I think Peyton and Minott are their guys.

I agree that the rotation minutes crunch at the 2-4 positions is an important factor to consider if we're going to double down on big wings strategy.

Curious why you think K Brown and J Lewis don't fit as upside plays. To my mind they're both about the same age as Peyton and Minott, and both have a lot of untapped potential that might benefit from a development year as well

Fair point , I just mentioned Peyton and Minott because they seem like more of a 'project' type pick and a step behind Lewis who played 2 years with high usage. You can probably put Kendall in the project mix

I do believe all of these guys fit our profile and have good upside to become a player ala Norm

[grant101]

Looking forward to a projected lottery pick or two sliding out of the 1st round and right into the Raptors lap, only for them to draft an obscure name whom one person posted about here 3 months ago and who proceeds to impress everyone 5 minutes into summer league.

Almost a yearly tradition. You just missed the part when the board freaks out after this pick, followed by 'Masai is a genius' 5 minutes into that summer league.

Never fails.

lol! I'm already mentally preparing myself for us to pick Kok Yat. Followed by a summer of whinging about why we didn't pick a fan favourite

[Kevin Willis]

Big thumbs up to WuTang-OG for posting all this info.
Its my one stop for draft news.
Your effort is appreciated.

Thank you for taking us through the 36 Chambers of drafting.

[Psubs]

Almost a yearly tradition. You just missed the part when the board freaks out after this pick, followed by 'Masai is a genius' 5 minutes into that summer league.

Never fails.

lol! I'm already mentally preparing myself for us to pick Kok Yat. Followed by a summer of whinging about why we didn't pick a fan favourite

Kok Yat hasn't been mocked much if at all, but he's intriguing.

Whoa, he's JT Thor's cousin.

Watch on YouTube

Honestly thought you made him up until I Googled.

[WuTang_CMB]

Big thumbs up to WuTang-OG for posting all this info.
Its my one stop for draft news.
Your effort is appreciated.

Thank you for taking us through the 36 Chambers of drafting.

We should start a realgm raptors draft podcast

we'd smack all of these guys

[douggood]

Looking forward to a projected lottery pick or two sliding out of the 1st round and right into the Raptors lap, only for them to draft an obscure name whom one person posted about here 3 months ago and who proceeds to impress everyone 5 minutes into summer league.

Almost a yearly tradition. You just missed the part when the board freaks out after this pick, followed by 'Masai is a genius' 5 minutes into that summer league.

Never fails.

this year we have the added the factor of trading down from 20 to 33, not only will we have posts on who we picked and who we passed on; we will have posts on who it could have been at 20.

[WuTang_CMB]

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It seems there were a lot more players to this list

[Morris_Shatford]

Forgot that David Roddy existed till he showed up on our workouts list;

[grant101]

Never fails.

lol! I'm already mentally preparing myself for us to pick Kok Yat. Followed by a summer of whinging about why we didn't pick a fan favourite

Kok Yat hasn't been mocked much if at all, but he's intriguing.

Whoa, he's JT Thor's cousin.

Watch on YouTube

Honestly thought you made him up until I Googled.

Oh, no doubt! The man is a Raptor - long, athletic, unheralded background, limited exposure cause of an injury, already talking about building courts in Africa

[WuTang_CMB]

22. Wendell Moore | 6-5 junior | SG | Duke

Moore kind of got lost as scouts focused on Banchero and Williams at Duke, and he played a more limited role on a talented offensive squad. However, he had a good junior year and won’t turn 21 until September, and his ability to pass, defend, make open shots and score in the open court all make him a strong candidate to become a plus role player as a pro.

Moore could likely stand to improve his finishing and overall scoring package inside the 3-point line, but his rates of rebounds, assists and steals all are among the best of any shooting guard prospect this year, and those indicators usually point toward pro success more than scoring averages. Additionally, he shot 41.3 percent from 3 and 81.5 percent from the line and usually guarded the opponent’s best player. The 3-and-D archetype is pretty clearly there, and in a fairly athletic package that might be able to go up another notch with some conditioning gains.

He has enough length and leaping ability to alter shots when he goes up to contest them, and when he did get beat off the dribble, he had a good chase-down gear to block opponents from behind. He can get a little upright, and it looked like he was trying a bit too hard to avoid fouling; changes of direction also sometimes sent him veering into a ditch. It seems he’s more likely to get picked in the second round, but he has starter upside to go with a pretty high floor.

27. Justin Lewis | 6-6 sophomore | SF | Marquette

Lewis can be frustrating at times: A little too chilled out on defense, a little too jump-shot dependent on offense. I just can’t see how I could rank him any lower than this. He’s 6-6 with an enormous 7-2 wingspan, has a strong frame that should allow him to play four in almost any matchup if his team wants to size down, and he had a 32.5-inch standing vertical.

The basketball stuff went OK too. Lewis shot decently and on relatively high volume, and is very comfortable shooting off the dribble against smaller defenders. He rebounds well and can be a very good defender when in a stance and engaged.

The big thing that puts him at the tail end of my first-round grades, however, is that every team needs switchable forwards who can make an open shot. Lewis doesn’t even need to get that much better to fill in a back-end rotation spot, and he has upside to be quite a bit better.

28. Julian Champagnie | 6-6 junior | SF | St. John’s

Here’s one you probably weren’t expecting. Champagnie isn’t getting much first-round buzz, but I think he’s a name teams need to consider outside the lottery. Champagnie has a bit of a thin frame and can become a little too enamored of jab-step jump shots, something he converts at a respectable rate (34.8 percent from 3 for his career) but maybe that shouldn’t be the focal point of his game. He played a bit as a volume scorer for a weak St. John’s team, but that won’t be his role as a pro.

Instead, Champagnie profiles as a 3-and-D guy who can provide some juice as a secondary rim protector and disruptor. On the ball he likes to get into dribblers, even smaller ones, and used his length and anticipation to nab 3.1 steals per 100 possessions. That was slightly juiced by St. John’s use of pressing defenses, yes, but he’ll pressure the ball even against smaller players and is capable of blocking his own man’s shot. Sometimes that gets him beat — good crossovers leave him grasping for air — but I think he’ll be able to stay with NBA wings.

37. Walker Kessler | 7-0 sophomore | C | Auburn

Kessler is a legit 7-footer with a 7-4 wingspan, and he blocked everything in sight. A 19.1 percent block rate in the SEC? And 10.0 blocks per 100 possessions? Are you kidding me? Kessler can get to shots with his left or right hand, and sometimes got them with two hands. He wasn’t as comfortable defending in space but he was still pretty good and Auburn was clearly okay with him switching — the dribbler needs to clear a ton of space to get out of his flight path, but Kessler doesn’t change directions fluidly so sometimes he got cooked.

The more vexing part is finding an offense role for him. I don’t see a major threat as a rim runner, but that’s probably his best role; he also dabbled in 3-point shooting but only made 10 of his 50 attempts. Between that and the fact that he plays the least valuable position, it’s hard to get too excited about him in the top part of the board. But he is a freaky shot blocker, and that’s worth something.

46. Peyton Watson | 6-7 freshman | SF | UCLA

Watson has an NBA body but has yet to combine it with NBA skill, which is why he struggled to get on the floor for UCLA in his freshman season. He only played 405 minutes and didn’t make much of a case for getting more, posting an 11.2 PER on 39.4 percent true shooting. Watson has to both fix his outside shot and refine his finishing and decision-making in the paint.

The signs are more encouraging on the other side of the ball, where he averaged 5.6 “stocks” per 100 possessions and was a plus rebounder, but he will need to cut back on the fouling (7.6 per 100). The search for big wings who can defend multiple positions is ever-present in the NBA, and that’s why somebody is very likely to roll the dice in the second round on developing Watson.